Country
Fossil hunting in Ireland
One of the oldest records of a vertebrate walking on land sits on a County Kerry shore. The Valentia Island trackway is roughly 385 million years old and nobody charges to see it, but the National Parks and Wildlife Service closed the site for repairs in November 2025 and has published no reopening notice. Check before you travel.
Nine trackways occur in the Middle Devonian Valentia Slate Formation on the northeastern coast of the island, at Dohilla, Coosadillisk and Culoo Head. The Dohilla site near Chapeltown is the accessible one, with open access on the coast.
What the rock records is a tetrapod crossing wet sediment, and the date places it among the earliest such traces known. The prints are shallow and the surface is natural rock, so the site rewards low sun and wet stone more than it rewards a hammer.
2 fossil sites
Updated 17 September 2026
Streedagh Point, County Sligo Fossil Hunting Guide
County Sligo, Ireland
Rugose corals, Brachiopods, Crinoids, Bryozoans
Valentia Island Tetrapod Trackway Fossil Hunting Guide
County Kerry, Ireland
Trace fossils, Tetrapod trackways
Frequently asked questions
- Is the Valentia Island tetrapod trackway free to visit?
- Yes. The Dohilla site near Chapeltown has free and open access on the coast of Valentia Island in County Kerry.
- How old are the Valentia Island footprints?
- They are Middle Devonian, roughly 385 million years old, in the Valentia Slate Formation. They are among the oldest vertebrate footprints known anywhere.